Peter, you are right, personally the Grey line was not my favourite in the test.
Actually, this rod was the one where us two testers had clearly different opinions. My college liked it much better, but neither he gave it top grade, but it came close. As you will also understand, this was a quick test, done during two days, and despite we took time to test with different line types and weights, some rods you need more time to adjust to than others, and this of course reduces the values of tests like this, compared to long time tests where you also get a chance to test in real fishing situations, and also get a better evaluation of durability.
Generally, our impression is that the marked has never been better supplied with good rods. You find rods from very many companies and at different prices, all performing good - excellent.
We set up two former "winners" as "state-of-the-art" rods, rods which has won great reputation in many tests, countries and that are loved by different types of anglers and casters. Those were:
- Loomis GLX 13 ft
- Thomas & Thomas 13 ft
(Note that the test was of shorter rods 12 - 13 ft line 8-9)
We judged these rods still to be extremely good and gave them best grade.
Then among the other rods, we (the two testers), chose two rods each - best rod, and best buy (considering price as well):
Best rods:
- Hardy GEM 13'
- Fenwick Ironfeather 12'6'' (new model)
Best buy rods:
- Redington RedFly 13'
- Guideline LPXe 13' (a Scandinavian brand produced in Asia)
Three rods got top grade (6), those were the two "stateoftheart" rods (GLX 13 and T&T 13) and the Hardy GEM.
We underline that one should not put too large focus on the winners, as I said it have never been so many fine rods on the market, and each caster should choose according to their style and preferences. For instance, we tested a very interesting BW "Parabolic Speycaster" 13' line 9 (I think a new model), which must be a wonderful rod for people casting full lenght lines and who like a rod that flexes down in the handle yet having that power needed.
I should also add that some of the news that have been advertised here in Scandinavia, such as the new G. Loomis Forcelite Speyrods (designed in cooperation by Rajeff at Loomis and the Syrstad brothers in Norway) were not available for the test. (it remains to be seen whether very many will be available this season). Neither Sage were available. I might also add that the Loomis GLX 12'6'' (new last season) had an entirely different action than the beloved GLX 13'. To be honest, the 12'6'' was a disappointment to me. It was a very top action/fast action rod, with a not good enough transfer of energy betweem the relatively soft tip to the stiff bottom part.